The current case law (Air France SA v Heinz-Gerke Folkerts,Luz-Tereza Folkerts) states that 'Article 7 of Regulation No 261/2004 must be interpreted as meaning that compensation is payable, on the basis of that article, to a passenger on directly connecting flights who has been delayed at departure for a period below the limits specified in Article 6 of that regulation, but has arrived at his final destination at least three hours later than the scheduled arrival time´. However in this case the facts are slightly different, because the Emirates flight EK322 did depart and was then forced to land again, hence the long delay on this segment seems to have been caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. Thus this is why the applicability of Regulation No 261/2004 must be determined for each of those flights separately and not in isolation. On a sour note The Commission has recently presented proposals to modify Regulation 261/2004. Some changes are: compensation for flights of less than 3500 km raises up to 5 hours and for flights of more than 3500 km to 9 hours.